Gov. Terry Branstad says he's headed to China later this month at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping.

Branstad will travel with a group of Iowans from May 29 to June 5. Stops will include the Great Wall of China.

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They'll also participate in a reunion banquet with Xi, who came to Iowa in February as part of his first U.S. trip as the presumed next president of China.

The Iowa trip was a reunion 27 years after Xi met Iowa farmers and business leaders during a diplomatic exchange to Muscatine. Many of the people he met there he considers old friends and 15 of them will accompany Branstad.